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Here's a discovery that could make secular parents say hallelujah: Children who grow up in non-religious homes are more generous and altruistic than children from observant families. ...
A series of experiments involving 1,170 kids from a variety of religious backgrounds found that the non-believers were more likely to share stickers with their classmates and less likely to endorse harsh punishments for people who pushed or bumped into others.
The results "contradict the common-sense and popular assumption that children from religious households are more altruistic and kind toward others," according to a study published this week in the journal Current Biology.
Worldwide, about 5.8 billion people consider themselves religious, and religion is a primary way for cultures to express their ideas about proper moral behavior — especially behavior that involves self-sacrifice for the sake of others.
-- submitted from IRC
(Score: 5, Interesting) by anubi on Sunday November 08 2015, @12:53AM
Mind you, I was raised Southern Baptist.
That said, I began drifting further and further away from "the flock" as my leaders adopted "leadership techniques" which to me seemed so heartless. It seemed almost like the old "diplomatic immunity" thing where we were "above the law" of common social etiquette as we were obedient to a "higher power", which was presented to us to take completely on "faith".
The thing I found so frustrating was my inability to communicate with the faith leaders. Church started at a specific time - then only that which the "leaders" had to say could be said. Through powerful amplifiers. Then church was over. Everybody goes home. Can't discuss a damned thing. Gotta go!
For me, God and Truth seem almost synonymous, just as "faith", "superstition", "naivety", and "gullible" to me are close synonyms. I did not like it at all when "authority of leadership" gets called into play, as I knew full good and well they had no legal hold on me as far as the law of the land goes... all they own of me is what I give them.
Yes, I see all sorts of "leadership techniques" at play. Fancy buildings. Fancy decorations on their clothing. Lots of obedient people around them which will enforce their whim. These are people who never have to raise their voice. One hand-motion and musicians will fire up kilowatts of audio amplifiers to drown out anything - while all the believers go all blank-faced, put their hands up in the air and do the Hitler Thing, rock back and forth, and say "Praise the Lord". Looks like a drug-induced stupor. Damn near enough to make me lose my religious beliefs entirely if I had to go along with it. Its like trying to have a discussion with a drunk.
Yes, I know the "believers" had a responsibility to their leadership to "excommunicate" me if I did not toe the line as to what the microphone man said. I ended up excommunicating them at the same time. About the last thing most of these churches need is anyone who questions authority.
Yes, I do have a belief there is a God. My belief is that "he" ( if I can gender a force ), is what caused this whole existence as I know it to exist. I am also of the belief that the study of the sciences is the truest religion there is, as it studies creation. ( BTW, that is Biblical. Job 12:7-8 ). I have had enough experience with Man to know that he will tell me anything to get me to follow him, aka "leadership skills". Machiavelli and Napoleon were masters at it. Lie like a dog. Threaten people and feed them all sorts of lies to get them to obey. Bullshit!
However a lot of people will go along - for the very same reason gangland protection rackets work. The "leadership" is organized with enforcers, whereas the general public is not.
Almost like a gang, a lot of "organized religious" people come off as assholes because they have leadership assholes egging them on.
A lot of the churches are concerned about declining memberships. I sincerely hope they read what I wrote and consider replacing all that judgmental attitude with a genuine concern and love for their fellow man.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 5, Informative) by jdavidb on Sunday November 08 2015, @02:22AM
ⓋⒶ☮✝🕊 Secession is the right of all sentient beings
(Score: 3, Disagree) by Runaway1956 on Sunday November 08 2015, @03:24AM
People who make those statements seem to forget part of their own Bibles.
http://biblehub.com/1_corinthians/6-3.htm [biblehub.com]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by kurenai.tsubasa on Sunday November 08 2015, @10:53PM
1st Corinthians 6:1–8 (MSG):
And how dare you take each other to court! When you think you have been wronged, does it make any sense to go before a court that knows nothing of God’s ways instead of a family of Christians? The day is coming when the world is going to stand before a jury made up of followers of Jesus. If someday you are going to rule on the world’s fate, wouldn’t it be a good idea to practice on some of these smaller cases? Why, we’re even going to judge angels! So why not these everyday affairs? As these disagreements and wrongs surface, why would you ever entrust them to the judgment of people you don’t trust in any other way?
I say this as bluntly as I can to wake you up to the stupidity of what you’re doing. Is it possible that there isn’t one levelheaded person among you who can make fair decisions when disagreements and disputes come up? I don’t believe it. And here you are taking each other to court before people who don’t even believe in God! How can they render justice if they don’t believe in the God of justice?
These court cases are an ugly blot on your community. Wouldn’t it be far better to just take it, to let yourselves be wronged and forget it? All you’re doing is providing fuel for more wrong, more injustice, bringing more hurt to the people of your own spiritual family.
What Paul is saying here is that it's better to turn the other cheek than to submit to corrupt “justice” i.e. better to just take whatever abuse than leave it to the lawyers (e.g. Pharisees, scribes, etc). The lawyers will destroy a community.
(The early Christian church will destroy libraries, particularly the one at Alexandria, but that's a matter for another time.)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 08 2015, @09:10PM
Doesn't the Invisible Hand of the Free Market take care of all that stuff anyway?
(Score: 2) by jdavidb on Monday November 09 2015, @02:44AM
ⓋⒶ☮✝🕊 Secession is the right of all sentient beings
(Score: 3, Interesting) by HiThere on Sunday November 08 2015, @09:22PM
The bible tells people the things they want to hear from it. In that way it's rather like a Ouja board. Come with a perspective, and you can find a section that confirms it. It was used to justify both slave holding and abolitionism with equal vigor...and that's just one example of a pair of opposites that are justified by the same "holy scripture".
I once had to read the whole thing, and though I don't remember most of it, I certainly lost all respect for it during the process.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by jdavidb on Monday November 09 2015, @02:46AM
ⓋⒶ☮✝🕊 Secession is the right of all sentient beings
(Score: 3, Interesting) by jdavidb on Monday November 09 2015, @02:50AM
ⓋⒶ☮✝🕊 Secession is the right of all sentient beings
(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Monday November 09 2015, @05:59PM
BTW, for anyone who liked this, let me point out that the Bible all tells Christians not to be "troublesome meddlers." In other words, they are very emphatically supposed to mind their own business and leave everyone else alone.
My observation is that there seem to be two types of Christians (this probably applies to all religions). You have your genuine spiritual Christians who try to live by following the teachings of Christ. These tend to be fairly rare, at least as far as being in the public view goes. Then you have your Christian supremacists. Following the teachings of Christ is something that is only done by accident. What they really try to do is force "Christian" law upon others, everyone should live and work in a proscribed manner, determined by that particular sect, and anyone who does not is to be condemned. This is more an authoritarian thing, it is easier to control people if they are behaving predictably. It depends greatly on cognitive dissonance, the flock bleating thoughtlessly ("Four legs good, two legs better!") repeating the commands of the leaders, and backed by selectively using aspects of their dogma as needed and ignoring anything that contradicts. That dogma becomes all important, it is important to force others to accept it, even the contradictory parts, in order to better be able to use it for even greater control.
(Score: 2) by jdavidb on Monday November 09 2015, @06:49PM
ⓋⒶ☮✝🕊 Secession is the right of all sentient beings